DePatty makes plea in child porn case

STACY LANGLEY, Tribune Staff Writer

Published 2:07 pm, Friday, April 22, 2016

BAD AXE — A former Port Austin man who spent the last 180 days in the county jail awaiting a his December trial on charges he possessed child pornography on his computer appeared in Huron County Circuit Court twice this week.

Huron County prosecutors charged Michael J. DePatty with possession of child sexually abusive material and using a computer to access such material.

On Monday, DePatty, through his attorney, Jill Schmidt, made an attempt to get out of jail while he awaits his jury trial.

Schmidt argued DePatty already has served 180 days in jail and requested DePatty be allowed to be free until the upcoming trial.

Dawn A. Schumacher, chief assistant prosecutor, disagreed with Schmidt, arguing to Judge M. Richard Knoblock that DePatty did not yet serve the entire 180 days in jail, and he is a flight risk and a threat to the community if released.

Knoblock denied DePatty’s request for release, saying because of time DePatty was serving on an unrelated criminal charge during the period he was in jail, DePatty still was 27 days short of serving 180 days in jail.

After expressing his frustrations with the judge’s ruling, DePatty told the court he planned to plead guilty to the charges he faced and was adamant that he is not a flight risk.

Late Wednesday, DePatty and Schmidt returned to the circuit court where DePatty, in a plea agreement with the prosecutor’s office, pled “no contest” to the charge he used a computer to commit a crime.

The charge of possession of child sexually abusive material is to be dismissed at the time of sentencing, which is set for Nov. 29.

Huron County Prosecutor Timothy J. Rutkowski said the charges against DePatty stem from an Aug. 22, 2004 incident in Port Austin Township in which a friend of DePatty’s borrowed DePatty’s computer and then discovered child pornography on the computer. The friend alerted a family member of DePatty’s and police were called.

While charges were authorized against DePatty in 2007, he was unable to be located by police until earlier this year, when he turned up in North Dakota.

Michigan State Police Troopers from the Bad Axe post traveled to North Dakota to take DePatty into custody after he waived extradition, and he was transported back to Michigan.

Rutkowski said in addition to facing up to seven years in prison at the time of sentencing, DePatty also will have to register as a sex offender. DePatty must pay the cost of his extradition, an amount to be determined at the time of sentencing.